| As researchers all over the world continue investigating songs from the linguistic vantage point, some of them have further pointed out how the lyrical aspect of a song plays a pivotal role in turning a song into an effective means of communication that could resonate and, subsequently, generate wide popularity among the music audiences. One of the linguistic strategies that a songwriter could adopt in composing such resonating lyrics is by imbuing them with figurative language that takes shape in the form of various figures of speech. This study, in particular, aims to investigate the types of figures of speech that were incorporated in some of the most contemporary and popular English songs written by Indonesian songwriters, who were identified as English as Foreign Language (EFL) speakers and not native English speakers. Moreover, this study also probes into the type of associative meaning that was accommodated and conveyed by each identified figure of speech within the song lyrics. The researcher analyzed the lyrics of the ten most played English songs written by native Indonesians on the digital streaming platform Spotify for the past five years by referencing the theory of figurative language introduced by Knickerbocker and Reninger (1963) and Kennedy (1979) and the theory of associative meaning presented by Leech (1985). This study discovered that Indonesian songwriters would generally use hyperbole, paradox, personification, metaphor, symbolism, and litotes in their lyrics, with hyperbole and symbolism being the most frequently incorporated figure of speech. In addition, this research also concluded that Indonesian songwriters would typically accommodate connotative, stylistic, reflective and collocative meanings through their use of figures of speech. Therefore, for Indonesian songwriters who are interested in scoring a popular hit, crafting English song lyrics that incorporate predominantly hyperbole and symbolism while conveying different associative meanings is more likely to resonate wider with music audiences. |